Mr. President, as one of your most loyal and faithful subjects who has nothing but the utmost respect for your person and your office I am constrained to write you this open letter. This is because there are a number of issues that I believe that it is important for you to clarify and to come clean on. I say this because some of your assertions of late are at best contradictory and at worst patently dishonest.

Whichever side of the political divide we are on I believe that we can all agree on one thing: that the prosecution of the war against terror is not something that any of us should play politics with. This is especially so given the fact that human lives are at stake and the very existence of our nation is under threat. Like much of the rest of the world our country is going through hell at the hands of the jihadists and Islamist terrorists.

There is no gainsaying that we must all come to terms with the fact that the Islamic State in the Levant (ISIL), Al Qaeda, the Taliban, Al Shabab, Boko Haram, Hamas and another group that the internationally-respected Global Terror Index has described as the ”Fulani militants” (aka Fulani herdsmen) are nothing but bloodthirsty murderers and the lowest form of life. They are indeed the scum of the earth, the troublers of humanity and the vermin of hell. It is with this in mind that I urge you to take the war against terror far more seriously than you are doing and plead with you to stop passing the buck. 

Your penchant for blaming your failings in this regard on the previous administration is simply nauseating and it does not serve you well. You continuously contradict yourself when it comes to this matter and frankly such flip flops are unworthy of the office that you presently occupy. We your subjects look up to you for consistency, strength, unequivocal commitment, a firm resolve and the ”leadership from the front” that you promised during your presidential campaign in this war. We do not want and neither do we need doublespeak, lame excuses and buck passing.

Permit me to point out a few examples of your contradictory assertions and your buck passing in this short intervention. Initially you claimed that your predecessor in office President Goodluck Jonathan never bought any arms and that instead he squandered and stole all the money that was appropriated for the procurement of arms.

Yet when the British Minister of Defense visited you in the Presidential Villa the other day the story changed. You did a U-turn and gleefully told him and the wider world that President Jonathan bought arms with raw cash.

One wonders which story you shall come up with next and which one you will conjure up in the future. Kindly tell us what the position is: is it that Jonathan did not buy arms at all and stole all the money or is it that he used cash to buy arms? You cannot have it both ways. It is either one or the other.

Quite apart from your glaring doublespeak on this matter there was another issue which you ought to have raised with your highly esteemed and respected British guest. You forgot to tell him that his was one of the countries that not only refused to sell weapons to us during the course of this bitter conflict but that also helped to impose and enforce the international arms embargo on our country even though we are at war.

This resulted in the unnecessary death of thousands of our people because we found it difficult to procure the weapons to protect them. Your guest’s country insisted on towing the American line and doing this to us even though we were fighting a war against a relentless, well-motivated, well-funded and well-armed fighting force that Global Terror Index has described as the ”deadliest terrorist organization in the world”. One is forced to ask: with friends like this who needs enemies?

Given the fact that the embargo was in place one wonders how we were supposed to procure arms unless we did so with raw cash on the black market. The alternative was to buy none at all, to do nothing and to allow Boko Haram to take Abuja, Port Harcourt, Enugu and Lagos. Perhaps that is precisely what your western friends and allies wanted but thankfully it never came to pass.

Despite the challenges and constraints President Jonathan faced, instead of losing any more ground, he rose to the occasion and retook no less than 22 local government areas and virtually pushed Boko Haram out of Nigeria. The only place that they occupied by the time the election took place was Sambisa forest.

Jonathan achieved all this with those arms that he bought with raw cash. This is apparently what you are now complaining about. Permit me to remind you that it is those same arms that Jonathan bought with raw cash that your army is still using till today. Yet sadly since you were sworn in as President seven months ago you have lost some of those same local government areas that were earlier recovered and they are now back in the hands of the terrorists.

Despite this you keep telling the international community and the Nigerian people that we are ”making progress” in the war against terror. As a matter of fact you went as far as to say that we had ”won the war” against Boko Haram and your Minister of Information, Mr. Lai Mohammed, echoed that grotesque mendacity and reiterated that sentiment by adding the words ”technically won” (whatever that may mean) to the equation.

Sadly, two days later, on Christmas day, in what can only be described as an eloquent response from the terrorists, scores of innocent civilians were killed by Boko Haram in Borno state and a whole community was burnt to the ground. Again on Sunday 27th of December Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, came under heavy attack from the terrorists. So much for having ”won the war against Boko Haram”, whether ”technically” or otherwise.

Instead of conceding that you had told the Nigerian people a pernicious lie, curiously the next thing that you did was to tell them that you would ”persuade Boko Haram to drop their arms”. 

One is compelled to ask: why would you have to persuade them to drop their arms if you had already defeated them and won the war against them?

In any case this would be the first time in the history of modern warfare that a sitting President has sought to destroy and defeat a vicious and relentless terrorist organization and win the war against terror simply with the awesome and devastating weapon of persuasion. Perhaps you should recommend that same tactic to the Americans and the rest of the international community as an effective and credible weapon to adopt in their war against ISIL, Al Qaeda, Al Shabab, Hamas and all the other jihadist groups that plague the world.

Whilst you are at it perhaps you could also persuade Boko Haram to free the Chibok girls. It is disturbing to note that despite all your campaign promises and assurances that once you are elected President the girls would be rescued or returned, nothing has been done or heard about any of them ever since you were sworn in. Worst still the Bring Back Our Girls Group, which was essentially an appendage of your election organization, together with its distinguished leaders and conveners, appear to have gone very quiet. I guess they are busy trying to persuade Boko Haram to drop their arms too.

The truth is that it is time for you to free yourself from your monumental delusions and to get real. Sadly you appear to be detached from reality. Instead of fighting the war against terror you are making it worse by slaughtering one thousand Shia Muslims in Zaria on December 12th, locking up their leader Sheik Ibrahim El Zakzaky and opening yet another war front in our country. The last thing that we need is for Hezbollah or the Iranian Republican Guard to rise to the occasion, take up the challenge, jump into the fray and decide to protect and avenge their Shia Muslim brothers and sisters in northern Nigeria.

Yet despite the reprehensible and indefensible actions of your military commanders in Zaria you have refused to show any remorse for what was undoubtedly a war crime against fellow Nigerians and you have not prosecuted the officers and military personnel that were involved in the butchery. Instead the homes of the victims and those that share their Shia faith have been burnt to the ground in Zaria and their graves and burial sites have been dug up and desecrated.

Instead of fighting Boko Haram you are fighting and killing your own people. Worse still you have refused to defend our country. I say this because a few days ago the Cameroonian military invaded our country, violated our territorial integrity and savagely murdered over 70 innocent Nigerians in their village before burning it down.

Your government refused to acknowledge that this event even took place, despite the media reports. You did not console or express condolences to the families of the victims or retaliate against the Cameroonians.

You did not even warn them or demand an apology or reparations from them. This is heartless and shameful. It could not have happened under Jonathan, Obasanjo, Babangida, Shagari, Abacha, Abubakar, Shonekan, Mohammed, Balewa or indeed any other former Nigerian President or Head of State. If any of them had been in power and the Cameroonians cultivated the effrontery to do such a thing there would have been consequences.

Yet you did nothing to avenge this affront or to defend our honor. What happened to the gallant and brave General Buhari that courageously led our troops into victory in Chad in the early 1980’s? What happened to the honest and forthright man that we all admired and looked up to because of his military exploits in Chad? What happened to the war hero that gave the Chadians a ”bloody nose” for daring to attack a Nigerian village and that almost took Ndjamena, the Chadian capital? What happened to the man that proved to the Libyans and their Chadian proxies that Nigerians knew how to fight? It appears that you have changed and that you are no longer the man that you used to be.

Instead of being honest with our people you have insisted on selling them a dummy and telling them a lie. You refuse to tell the world that our military is terribly demoralized, our soldiers are suffering heavy casualties and are not being paid their salaries regularly and, worse of all, that you have failed to procure a single bullet or weapon for them to use in the last seven months since you came to power.

Instead of deploying all the power of the state against Boko Haram you have spent all your energy and resources trying to teach the former National Security Advisor, Colonel Sambo Dasuki, and all your other perceived enemies the lesson of their lives by misrepresenting them before the world, subjecting them to state-sponsored tyranny and the most insidious form of persecution, violating their human rights and lying to the world that they stole and shared money that was meant for the purchase of arms.

You have also misled and misinformed the Nigerian people about the rules and conventions that are applied when it comes to the administration of security funds and about the fact that it is the National Assembly alone that has the right to probe the use of such funds as part of their oversight functions. To cap it all you have claimed you did not receive any benefit from the NSA ‘s office whilst Jonathan was in power. This is an assertion which we all know is, at best, questionable.

You must be mindful of the fact that God hates liars and He despises those that abuse power. You must remember that the more you scorn God’s counsel and mock His admonitions the more your errors will be made manifest and the more your people will suffer.

You must understand that any leader or government that is motivated by bitterness, fear, hate, vengeance and malice will eventually hit the rocks and crash like a pack of cards. You must appreciate the fact that God is watching and that He sees and knows all.

May the Lord have mercy on you and may He forgive you for your many sins and wicked ways. God bless Nigeria.

Nigerians, just like when Bill Clinton told the Americans during one of his election campaigns that it was the economy, I am also now telling Nigerians that it is a class war period.

Our sufferings and frustrations are not because we belong to any section of the country or because we are Igbos as the hapless Nnamdi Kanu and his ilk would have us believe it is simply because we remain the grass under the feet of a collection of elephants in a continous struggle for power both political and economic.

Our low level of education and enlightenment continue to put us in positions of servitude to be used and misused by the elites whose membership cut across ethnic lines and are kept together by their collective greed.

The Marxists pushed this position in the 70s and we refused to see it. I have been mulling these thoughts and have decided to expand on it as I now have incontrovertible evidence that our oppressors do not take their decisions based on the integrity or otherwise of the people they claim to represent but are driven by the urge for the primitive and continuous accumulation of power and wealth.

My people, I watched this documentary on Nigeria and it was very clear that the civil war, several coups and economic bastardization that we have faced since we gained independence have been direct consequences of this struggle. Let me illustrate, I have always wondered why Fela the Late genius hated with a passion the Military especially Obasanjo and Yar’dua. The link is very clear, his mother was part of the independence push in the 50s. She attended most of the talks both in UK and in Nigeria. She fought gallantly and even dethroned a sitting Oba in the wake of her powerful incursions into politics. But immediately we gained independence she went into obscurity, cheated out of the fruits of her struggle culminating in her final humiliation by the OBJ junta. This was Felas grouse, how can his mother be so treated by these ‘vagabonds’ after all she had done for this country..

So what did he do, he fell back on the masses, taking advantage of their illiteracy and a need for release as a result of their massive poverty and suffering to rail against another section of the elitist club with which he was a major member by reason of his bourgeois birth. He wore the pants, smoked the weed all in his bid to show that he belonged to the masses. He succeeded to an extent but in death, his people came for him and took him away from the masses. They rewarded his family with political appointments, immortalization of his family name and all sort. Even today the Lagos state Government has given up although on lease as I hear a major part of our national historical monument – the Lagos Prison for his family to manage and maintain through his eldest daughter who is in a relationship with a talented Architect.

People, please open your eyes to the games of our masters. Another illustration is that of MKO Abiola, the purported winner of the June 12 Elections. He always regaled us with stories of his poverty, his poor upbringing and all. He did all these to curry the support of the masses in his fight against his colleagues as he struggled for power. He was not poor even in his youth, he was educated by Felas father in a school meant for elites and their children. Obasanjo attended the same school, (hope you are seeing the link) sent abroad to study and came back to join the Lagos University Teaching hospital from where he moved to some multi national and still as a very young man bought his first company. 

As a bonafide member of the elitist club, his colleagues in the military gave him all sorts of contracts making him one of the richest Nigerians of all time. During this time, he made very shallow contributions to the welfare of the masses. Making gratitious donations which were in no way compared to the massive wealth he had amassed through his prostituting with the military membership of the elitist club. All these was to hoodwink us and make us believe that he was a trusted ally.

But all his charade was blown open when he was bluntly told by his colleagues that the Presidency was not ‘for sale’. However in his stubbornness he continued, relying on the bridge he had built between himself and the people to deliver the Presidency. This failed him for he underestimated the power of his cabal of wolves, his ambitions were frustrated by the military junta and he jumped to the masses for help like they always do, but we had been thoroughly weakened by his activities and that of his cohorts in the elitist movement and he invariably lost his life.

The linkages are very strong. The same people and their children have been ruling us both politically and economically. They only jump at ethnic and tribal colorations when they loose out in their intra class struggle. Falling back on the poor people to fight for them, claiming to have been cheated because they belong to a certain tribe but conveniently forgetting to state clearly that they were just poor strategist in a club the majority of us will never belong.

Let’s look at Ojukwu the leader of the Biafran Secessionist movement. His father was at the time the richest Nigerian. Ojukwu lived a life of privilege and attended the best schools. His education gave him a little advantage over the other members who were firmly divided into three class subdivisions within the elitist movement- the political, economic and military. Ojukwu played in all the spheres and did not understand why he should be subjugated to Gowon who played in only one space and was not as educated. The progrom in the North and the continued massacre of the igbos gave him the firm vehicle and platform to carry out what to me and some scholars was a purely egoistic Crusade which led to the killing of over 2m Nigerians. After the war, what did we hear, ‘no victor no vanquished’, Ojukwu had run away with his famous Mercedes Benz to live a life of luxury in exile. This kind of camaraderie was a slap on the face of all those who had lost their lives, suffered untold suffering and saw their destinies thwarted but what would you expect after a fight between ‘two brothers’?

The competition between the elites led to massive recruitments on all sides. The North carried out their Northernization policy, using the famed Barewa College as a bastion for recruitment into the civil service and the military school in Zaria for recruitment into the military. The west embarked on theirs too sending their scions out to the UK on scholarships mostly to study Law. That is why you hear of people like Fani Kayode being a third generation Cambridge educated lawyer. The Easterners also had theirs with what was then called the Argonauts, this was the Azikiwe led young Igbo Turks who were mostly educated and trained in the U.S steeped in the radicalism of the civil rights movements. Today you will see their children and descendants still holding forte.

People like Bola Tinubu, El Rufai, Buba Marwa, Dasuki, Femi Otedola, Aliko Dangote, Keem Bello Osagie, Udo Udoma are all direct descendants and beneficiaries of the bastion of elitist control. 

How do these elitists perpetuate themselves in power? Its Simple. Education and in some cases marriage. They have identified very early the importance of education hence the continuos push for their children and chosen ones to get the very best in education and tutelage. They go to the very best schools in the world and get the kind of exposure that common people’s children will never get. In the olden days it was through scholarships opened to party members children and wards, today its making sure recruitment into choice jobs was strictly based on the level and quality of education preferably overseas degrees. Tell me how will a Shomolu man’s son no matter how brilliant compete?

They have also perfected the art of intra class marriage. They marry themselves ensuring continuity and spreading of bloodlines although firmly within the elitist circle. Any attempt to marry out of this class is rebuffed and frustrated until the usurper packs his bags and runs away.

Clear illustration, look at the Management of Forte Oil and the pedigree of its Chairman you will see what we are saying. From the Group Managing Director to the Chief Financial Officer are children with strong pedigree that can be traced back two generations. They also parade very strong educational qualifications and tremendous exposure. So how will someone who went to Makoko Comprehensive and graduated from our ASUU strike bedeviled institutions compete favorably with these people. So you see, it’s a class war my people.

Otedola himself comes from a strong pedigree that could be traced to the Awoist free education and scholarship platforms of the old western region. His father being one of the wealthiest people in the land emerged as the first ‘sleeping’ Governor of Lagos State and eventually today Femi is one of the wealthiest black men in the world. He is also perpetuating the elitist lineage by sending his own kids to the very best schools in the world, recruiting only the very best that his money can afford from a very shallow pool of labour and effectively limiting the rest of us no matter where we come from Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo or Ibibio to the servitude that remains our fate.

For Now that it’s rosy, we are not hearing that he is enjoying all of these because he is a Yoruba man o. By the time, he experiences a small hiccup, maybe a little intra class struggle he would fall back on his people and scream for war that these Hausa people want to take his firm because he is Yoruba.

This is where Nnamdi Kanu is getting it all wrong. The igbos are not suffering because they are Igbos, they are suffering because of their position in the societal hierarchy which decides who stays where no matter where you come from. Why do you think the South Eastern Governors will never support his position? it’s because it may cause an imbalance of power and a restriction to resources. The Igbo elites will always look at Nnamdi Kanu as an orphan and treat him as such.

People, we are all suffering. Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa, Igbira, Ijaw. A poor man is a poor man. The same sickness in Onitsha is the same sickness in Kano. Have you seen the poverty in the North? Have you been to Makoko in Lagos? Have you been to the slums of Aba? We are fighting like fools because we do not know who the enemy is. 

Biafra will not put food on the tables of the poor disenfranchised Igbo man, Biafra will not give him infrastructure, send his children to school or even give him a voice. The issue can never be Biafra, the issue is elitist suppression and full control of the levers of the economy emasculating the masses throughout Nigeria.

If you doubt me, let us allow Biafra go and you will immediately see the permutation replay itself with the rebirth of these same elitist people creating a new hierarchy and entrenching the same issues that led to the creation of Biafra. Another Ilustration, IBBs rash of new states did not solve the issues but indeed created a new set of minorities still suffering from lack. I was a minority in the old Cross River State and still remain. Minority in the new Akwa Ibom State with my grandfathers house still not joined to the National grid. So what are we talking about.

The solution is education. We must break the walls of illiteracy by liberalizing education. Let’s enlighten everybody so that we all can at least see issues in its true form instead of its present coloration along ethnic and tribal lines.

It is a class war and the sooner we realize this the closer we will get to the Uluru.

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I write with a heavy heart as a result of what is going on under your leadership regarding the Biafra agitation and the leader of the IPOB (Indigenous people of Biafra), Mr. Nnamdi Kanu.

Let me first say that I, as an Igbo person, supported your election and campaign passionately for it on social media, but I am now on neutral grounds, because of the way you are handling the cry for Biafra though I will always support any good strides you are making for the people of Nigeria.

Some of the reasons I supported you are: 

1. Your wife said during a pre-election interview that you promised to lead by listening to the concerns of the people and doing what the people want.

2. As a former soldier in the United States Army, I knew that the discipline you have as a retired general of Nigeria Army is what is needed to clean up the corruption that has long retarded the progress of Nigeria.

However, during your interview in the USA, I believe at the State Department after your election you were asked a question about how you would handle the Niger Delta on amnesty and women issues, your answer was that and I quote, “constituents that gave me 97 percent votes cannot, in all honesty, be treated equally with constituents that gave me 5 percent.”

Both videos of your wife promise of your leadership and your admission of prejudicial treatment of people who did not vote for you is there on Youtube for anyone and the whole world to see.

Mr. President, the problem with this whole situation is that with the way you are currently treating the IPOB matter means that your wife has lied about you wanting to lead by listening and leading according to the needs of the people.

Moreover, I, as your initial supporter, was very bewildered and embarrassed when I saw that video where you admitted that you would lead by preferential treatment of those who voted you into office. Those who voted you into office are majorly from your region, the north, as well as the Southwestern region.

Igbos were the ones that only gave you 5 percent vote because they did not trust that you would lead with integrity. And guess what you are doing now! You are proving them right. You are showing that their fears were valid. Mr. President, leadership requires that you must be fair to all and sundry no matter how you feel about them. You cannot lead with a vindictive spirit to get back at those who didn’t want you to win.

Just look at President Barak Obama for example. Barack Obama has and still suffer from a severe opposition of a great number of Americans who don’t like him, but guess what, he still leads everyone with equal and fair treatment.

A leader that is temperamental enough to vilify a group of people because they did not vote for him is not yet a leader. A seasoned leader overcomes all negative emotions that tempts him to mistreat any section of people under his leadership. Otherwise, it is a dictatorship and not democracy.

Also, remember that many Igbos and Yorubas, who did not want you to become the President, accused you of being a dictator, and I have to say that you are proving them right for holding Nnamdi Kanu hostage.

I must mention that I am not for or against Biafra. I am for peace and fairness for all. If it were within my power, I would lead my people, the Igbos, to focus on what they are good at and leave Politics to those who want it so bad. On the other hand, I have seen that my people are very unhappy in Nigeria and feel grossly marginalized.

And since they have been bold enough to start a protest, they need to be heard and not ignored or shoved aside. 

They are human beings with feelings, values, and aspirations no matter how inconsequential anyone might see them.

So in that case, I support that there should be a referendum and due process to make a country of their own. Now there is a possibility that we may not get all the required vote to amend the Nigeria constitution; but in that case, we would have seen that due process was given and anyone that fights it would be called a trouble maker.

Right now, the trouble maker is the leader that have imprisoned the leader of a group that wants to move on to a better world for themselves. YOU are the trouble maker, Mr. President! You can stop all this by releasing him and demanding for him to go through the right process.

I have written partially on this in the past and to your attention as well hoping that your social media crew would bring it to your attention, but I have not seen any meaningful or positive action taken towards this case. Some people have advised me that if the Igbos really want to secede, they would not have to go through you and others have educated me as well that all that is needed is for the IPOB to forward a motion for Referendum through the Nigeria National Assembly.

You might wonder why then am I writing to you if we knew what steps to take. I am writing to you because you are the President of a country in turmoil who has the power to quell the disaster that is brewing under you. The solution to put a stop to the agitation for Biafra is in your hands. All you have to do is take a leadership step by releasing Mr. Nnamdi Kanu and advising him and the group to begin the process of Referendum. If the motion holds, good, if the motion fails, then you have done your job as the President.

May I please remind you that the British, the Russians and the UN have wisely made suggestions for the immediate release of Nnamdi Kanu and for Nigeria to allow a Referendum to go through, but with all due respect, it all seems to have fallen on deaf ears. The only response I have seen from your office is a statement that NO GROUP WILL BE ALLOWED TO TEAR NIGERIA APART. Mr. President that is not a responsible statement in the midst of what is going on.

Nigeria has never really been one. There is a deeply ingrained spirit of tribalism in Nigeria that has infected the political and economic fabrics of the nation of which is one of the biggest reasons driving the Biafra agitation. Igbos feel totally marginalized and rightfully so.

This situation is like a bad marriage where one partner is very unhappy and keeps wanting out of the relationship, and the other partner refuses to corperate because the relationship benefits them more.

Your energy will be better served fighting Boko Haram rather than fighting IPOB agitation that has a simple solution. And I must say that how you are handling this situation makes it look like all of a sudden Mr. Kanu has become more dangerous than Boko Haram that is still killing people actively in Nigeria when Mr. Kanu has not killed one person. When people protest for a cause, it is the responsibility of the leaders to address the issues surrounding that cause, not imprison the individuals.

The cry for Biafra did not start today. It has been going on for ages that also led to the massacre of over one million Igbos around 1967. I am not a good student of history, so I will not pretend to go into it. But I am sure you know what I am talking about.

I implore you to please listen to right conscience and make the judgment that will bring positive resolution to this case and prevent lives from being wasted over a civil war. You have the power to do this by the simple step I have mentioned above. Once again, let me say it again.

Release Mr. Nnamdi Kanu and instruct him and his group to go through the right channel through Nigeria National Assembly to put forward the motion for a referendum. Though you are old, you still have a young family that will live on after you. What legacy do you want to leave?

Written by Ij Onuigbo